We ate cake

And I dare say it looked like Kitty. It didn't look like the Kitty that I originally had in mind, which was of a more sculptural nature, but it looked like a hand-drawn quickly between skating and Mexican food type Kitty, whilst eating the third layer of cake that didn't want to come out of the pan. Yellow cake with vanilla frosting on the top and in the middle, chocolate frosting on the outer walls and for eyes, chocolate chips for whiskers and glitter gel frosting stripes. Yum.



And we imbued our six year old with a tiny bit more sparkle at the ears. Which of course goes perfectly with the twinkle in her eyes. She's had that since birth. Compliments of her father. Have you ever seen a full family of eight in Claire's watching someone get their ears pierced? Claire's is a very small store. There are people here in Nashville that have now seen a full family of eight in Claire's watching someone get their ears pierced and I would say most of them were either shocked or amused at the scene we created. So be it. Thats what we do. Almost everywhere we go.



And six came and went. Wooosh.

I have received some seriously funny cake pictures from some of you, and I so appreciate you hanging in there with me waiting to see the results. As some of you might remember we have a plethora of January birthdays, Nicolas just turned 12 two days after Eleni's and Juliana shall enter official adulthood in just two more days (which she relentlessly points out ten times a day like she wants me to cry). So needless to say, we've been busy around here with no shortage of cake and presents.

more soon pals. xo,AM

This has to look like Hello Kitty by 7pm

And we need to also squeeze in ear piercing, ice skating, and Mexican food eating before that.

All so that Eleni can turn 6 properly.

I'll report back. soon.

xo,Anna, who never wanted to be a baker anyway.

One of those weeks

Adorable? Yes.

Helpful? Not so much.

Albeit the constant work-sabotage-expert, he was the best part of the week. I'll spare you the blurry-baby-wrapped-around-my-ankles photos.

Very busy here, but I do want to share that sweet scarf/hood combo (scoodie?) that I made for Isabela in more detail, thanks so much for the sweet words about that!

Have a great weekend and we'll try to put ourselves back together over here and be more presentable next week!

slobbery smooches, Anna & Roman

Snowday Pretty

I find it shocking that right before a storm hits grocery stores run out of eggs, milk, bread, but always have plenty of cocoa and marshmallows left. What is everyone thinking?

Have a cozy weekend. xoAM
(ps. I loved reading about everyone else's musical rooms. good, good memories to make and remember.)

Musical Rooms

Eight people. Four bedrooms (plus a small basement guest room). Do the math. We share here. Having 6 years on the next oldest child, Juliana has always managed to have a room all to herself though. And somehow in this house she swung the master bedroom too. Jeff and I opted for the main floor guest room since its on the other end of the house (duh). Which we remodeled last year but have been sharing with Roman until a couple weeks ago. The baby is now, quite literally in the studio, at least his crib is in the studio. So is his sleeping. The 2 little girls share. The 2 older boys share.



And if you're still reading through what could be the most mundane post ever I'll tell you the rest. Isabela and Eleni are moving out of their smaller room into Juliana's master room with bathroom and Juliana is moving into their (much) smaller room with no bathroom. Nicolas is moving out of his and Joseph's room, opting for the basement guest room to himself. Roman will soon join Joseph for a few months until this fall when he'll move into the new smaller Juliana room once she goes to school. So Juliana is moving into what will become a nursery for Roman this fall. At that point all the boys will have their own room and the girls will share the biggest room. And I guess if the snoring improves, I'll still let Jeff in my room. (It is mine.)

There will be a pop quiz on this tomorrow.

The solemn sweeper wasn't too upset, I guess, but downsizing isn't easy. Especially when you're Juliana. There is stuff. Did I mention she has stuff. And because she has been mostly in charge of her stuff ever since we've lived in this house, the stuff seldom gets sorted through. I had resigned to painting over the hand painted wall for her so that the room would feel like hers and fresh and new. But mid-move she decided to keep it. It didn't take much time for the little room to begin looking like a Juliana room.



Complete with her stuff. The process has brought some deep inner sighs out of both of us as we anticipate a bigger move this fall for college. After getting the first of four applications off this week, my mom instincts told me we better start doing some clearing and switching now before there is too much emotion attached. She is getting used to living smaller. I am getting text messages from her in the middle of the day saying that she is realizing how much she will miss everyone. (clearing lump in throat now)



And work on the little girls' big room is just beginning. Last night they wanted their beds right next to each other, feeling a little uneasy in their new big space. And the striped wall paper that we somehow never managed to do anything with in all the years Juliana occupied this room, somehow looks like something we might choose to keep on purpose. Or not. Hmmm.

In Anna Maria's Standard Dictionary, right between the definitions for "optimal" and "optimize" you would find this:

`op-ti-mism n. an inclination towards and the expectation of a favorable outcome due to cleaning out closets, rearranging furniture, throwing away what we all knew was trash to begin with but somehow held off for 2.7 years, giving away that which is not trash, cleaning floors with vigor on your hands and knees not because you have to; sunlight on a freezing day

Look, I'm a scholar.

In 2009

I seldom sit down to review a year, other than making conversation. But this has been quite a year. And I know that its been quite a year because I began saying that around June- this has been quite a year. I am so grateful to have this space to share the biggest or littlest things in my life and work and I'm downright unworthy of all the encouragement and inspiration I am able to find in your support. For that, thank you so so much. And if you don't mind, if for nothing more than my own tiny benefit, here is a personal, albeit somewhat scattered, review right off the cuff....

In 2009::

::My mother's lymphoma was declared in remission. A fact upon facts that I never managed the capacity to talk about here. We all struggled through, no one more than her, and the whole ordeal has just made me feel like I've joined the human race...joined the common suffering of fear, joined the common elation of completely loving.

::I experienced the first slow splitting of fibers in the delicate netting around my oldest girl as she wades through college applications and does obnoxiously independent things, like having dinner with someone other than her family. What!? Sigh.

::We welcomed our beautiful Roman into the family. My deepest, most mother-ish worries of not having the ability to love another as much as those that I already love was...once again...proven wrong....ridiculously wrong~ the instant he quickly and strongly thrust himself into his own world and gave us a lusty newborn cry to sing away my worries, I was proven wrong. And I cried. And my husband cried.

::We had the first and last family Christmas together in which all 6 children live permanently under our roof...they live with us in this constantly messy, untidy, never completely pulled together, often loud and chaotic, sometimes surprisingly peaceful home. Together.

::I learned my limits.

::My children became better friends.

::We celebrated 16 years of marriage.

::I was surprised a few times when I came home from being away and found that my husband was still here.

::Still here. Just checked

::I learned that book writing is hard. I learned that writing a book inspired by pregnancy and babies is especially hard if you are both pregnant and then have a baby. I learned that doing this and also running a business is even harder. AND. I also learned that writing a book, having a baby, running a business and raising 5 other children, one dog and one canary is much, much harder. I won't mention the remodeling.

::In light of the above, I also learned that nursing a baby and using the bathroom at the same time is not unsanitary, but rather its a very good use of time and takes care of two necessities at once. And is really quite comfortable. Don't pretend you haven't done it.

::I coaxed my angry oldest son down from a 30 foot tree to talk to him about kindness and responsibility on the safety of our front steps while he picked at some pine needles that he brought from the treetop.

::I became a Godmother.

::I talked to old friends much less than I wanted to.

::I crocheted more than I had the time to.

::I learned that a hot bath can wash away a lot more than dirt. I do have the remodel to thank for that.

::I said no to some opportunities for the sake of my family.

::I accomplished some unforgiving, self-imposed deadlines.

::I failed at some stuff.

::I succeeded at some other stuff.

As I type this up, I can't help but mention that a funeral procession is driving by our front yard right now on their way to lay a loved one to rest....

2009, rest in peace. You shaped us a little more than I expected you to. Passing time is bitter, but I'm glad we're saying goodbye.

2010, here we are, nice to meet you. I adore the optimism you demand.

I wish each of you all you need in 2010 to care for yourself and those you love, to be inspired and I look forward to our continuing friendship here!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
with lots of love from your friend Anna~xoxoxox

With love from all of us~

One skein + one afternoon +one baby = one thousand kisses

I have been stealing as many moments as possible in the crochet chair ever since Thanksgiving, and slowly everyone is getting a little layer of love added to their wintry accessories. I need to remind you that I have no real knowledge of what I'm doing when I sit down to crochet anything, and typically just make it up as I go. Maybe everyone feels this way. I think this is why knitting has never stuck with me. It seems less like something you can manipulate like I have been able to get away with when crocheting. My mom has taught me to knit precisely six times and I still haven't gotten comfortable with it. But I do have knit envy, especially when it comes to all those wonderful hand knit socks and lovely sock yarns. I have been using several sock yarns (which I would consider the above) for things that are not socks which feels like a guilty pleasure. All that said, I love a quickie. I fell in love with this skein at my favorite local fabric shop turned local fabric/yarn shop. Yesterday after wrapping up a separate but much longer crochet project, I was in the mood for a itty baby hat.



All I did was make a rectangle of half-double crochet and threw a few scattered bobbles into the mix as I went - the rectangle width is 1/2 of Roman's head circumference, and the height is twice the height I wanted the hat to be. Once the rectangle was complete, I simply folded in half lengthwise and yarn-sewed the sides together. Then I crocheted a 5 stitch-length ribbing all around the bottom edge (great tut here).



Making a pompom at each corner became a must once we tried the hat on young Roman. The yarn is so sweet and woodsy and the rectangle shape of the hat naturally gives you these pokey little ears. So I went with the extra creature addition of pompoms (another great tut for those here with a pompom maker and for those without a pompom maker). I also didn't trim them too neatly so they would look a little scruffy. I encourage scruffiness for baby boys, its who I am.



And the result. Well. The cuteness. I can't stand it. Maybe you can stand it. I. Can. Not. Stand. It. And he is doing the Mowgli thing a lot lately instead of knee-crawling which he has yet to really do. I think he might skip real crawling altogether and go straight to walking one day soon.

My little creature.

More warm wearables to be posted soon! But posting this picture reminded me that I need to go and kiss his chubby little face at once. xxxxxxxo~AM

Home for the Holidays (kindergartern style)

School is officially out. Eleni just jingled (really, she has bells around her neck) all the way up the hill from the bus stop and eagerly pulled out some goodies from a giant crumpled paper grocery bag. Here are some favorites:



This is Peanut-Pretzel-Rudolph.



A torn paper Christmas Tree.



A gift from her K teacher. Do you remember this book? I loved it sooooo much.



"Down fell the snow- plop!-on top of Peter's head."

Each of our kids that can write has written a Christmas list and each of these lists has included "a white Christmas". Oh that sounds easy enough to buy. We might just have to use our imaginations for that one.

hope you're warm and calm in the midst of cold and chaos~ Anna

Flannel Fans Unite!

Wowzers! I had no idea the amount of flannel love that was happening in the universe and feel all has been revealed to me (Jeff and I were eating at our favorite Indian lunch buffet today and overheard a woman sitting by herself, saying very loudly at her cell phone "so much has been revealed to me and I can't wait to share it with you, its amazing". We were without a doubt intrigued and wondered over 4 plates of curried vegetables, rice and naan just what she was referring to. This is a long explanation of why I felt the need to use the word revealed in my first sentence. I just didn't want you to be in the dark about my word choices. I am a caring person like that.)

Anyway.

I decided that accompanying the two winning names of my flannel giveaway should be the full reveal on those sweet little chicks. So above is the Henny Penny & Six Chicks project that is one of the nursery sewing projects in my upcoming book Handmade Beginnings. Underneath Henny's soft, quilted wings are strips of velcro that those little velcro baby wings can attach to before all six babies are rocked to sleep. Sweet, huh? I love this project, and it was the perfect opportunity to use the cozy soft flannels. Now on to those flannels and the two winners!

At 11:39 PM Betsy said...

I have two friends expecting their first babies this next summer and I can't wait to make them baby blankets out of these flannels! I'm hoping one of them is having a girl because the Little Honey Heather is my favorite!

~and~

At 3:19PM Andrea said...

I can't believe there are so many comments already! Well, I should have know...you are amazing and all of us want a chance to holds those flannels in our hands. I do love them all and it is so hard to pick a single favorite. They are all just so beautiful and I am hoping that Santa brings me some in a few weeks. Thanks for being so inspiring and sharing little bits of your world with us!

Congrats Betsy and Andrea on winning a big stack of flannels that will allow you to make Henny Penny & 600 chicks, no doubt! Email me at am.at.annamariahorner.dot.com to claim your loot!

I cannot believe we had over 1500 entires- thats insane! I would send you all some if I could, I really really would. For the rest of you, be sure to drop over to Craftzine before Noon PST on Friday, December 11th and sign up on their mailing list for a chance to win a whole pile of other things that I've offered over there. That could knock a lot of presents off your gift list all at once!




Okay, since I shared a little more from Handmade Beginnings I thought I would also share the promo video that my publisher put together for the book which I whined about profusely not so long ago. In all not so bad, please be gentle. I was so nervous and postpartum and not horribly excited about the ordeal. And I think I said the word BABY about 74 times in the last 30 seconds of the video. Or maybe they edited that in to make sure everyone knows that the book is all about BABIES. The best part of all of it for me is seeing all my little munchkins and the gorgeous photography that is part of this book. Lots to look forward to in 2010.

Have a wonderful evening! with love and thanks as always! xo, Anna

Folksy Flannels for you~(a.k.a. a fabric giveaway!)

**Before I start with some flannel fun and a giveaway, I want to clarify something: The Folksy Flannels collection is a completely different collection of fabrics from both Good Folks (44" quiltweight cotton) and Little Folks (54"voiles, dobby dots). It does combine imagery from both of those collections, but is retranslated into new colorways and is printed on 44" wide cotton flannel. It just so happens that the flannels are shipping before the Little Folks collection which I introduced first and should be shipping before the end of the year last I heard. Is this clarification helping anyone? Better stop before I confuse things more.

We are having a little too much fun with the flannels! These teeny tiny chick brothers & sisters are the smaller part of a book project which I can't share completely yet, since the book isn't out till the spring. But just so you know, they have a very sweet mama and their tiny wings are made of Velcro. There. Thats all yer getting, and the rest will have to wait. Stop it, no, no more.



Besides pajamas, soft toys were some of my first inspirations for these flannels. But they have also proven lovely for patchwork projects as well. My friend Alexia made this beautiful wonky star quilt with the entire Good Morning palette for my market booth. She also made one with the Good Night palette, but I didn't get a piccy of it before it was snatched by my German fabrics distributor for display. (Here's a great tutorial on wonky stars.)

Just a few notes about the sewing and washing- it could just be me, but I do feel like these flannels shrink just a bit more than the standard quilting cottons. Anyone else? That said, it is even more important to prewash them, especially if you are using them in conjunction with other substrates, such as lining a jacket, etc. Once the voiles get here (soon, soon), I can't wait to show you some beautiful options of combining them with the flannels.



Anyway, who wants flannel for free? You can has! I'll send out a full collection of 16 fat quarters to two of you precious people. Leave me a comment, tell me your fav if you want, all of them are slide-showing over here for individual reference. I'll keep the comments open til about mid next week, 'kay?

While we all have the warm fuzzies, how about those loverly people over at Craft for considering me a Star Crafter?! I'm blushing. They have lots of giveaways going on to celebrate the launch of their new site, and more to come, which I'll be helping them out with too! I'll let you know when the Craft/AM giveaway is!

Have a great weekend! xo,Anna

Sees. Wants. Gets.

A pattern he is likely to repeat.

(like me at the pie table.)

hope everyone had a relaxing weekend with those you love~
xo,Anna

Coupla things & Happy Thanksgiving!

Its gonna be a short work week & I wanted to stop in first and share a few things, and if you're on the mailing list, sorry for the overlap in info, suffer through it or click through pilgrim!

* First and most important, I fully intend to wear one of two things over the next several days : an apron : or : a pile of yarn- under which I will be making things I don't need and maybe a few gifts for people who don't need things either.



* I have a new collection of aprons and dishtowels in the shop and I am super excited to say that included in this group are some fun little girl aprons~My girls are always tying my half aprons up to their underarms, so they are giddy with anticipatory-holiday-baking excitement over these!



* Overwhelmed with thankfulness for all that we have, I know I'm not the only one who'd like to spread a little love around at this time of year. And without a doubt there are more families in need these days than ever. We will be donating a portion of all of our kitchen linen sales for the rest of 2009 to help feed hungry families in our area. So this a simple way for you to shop for yourself or to gift a loved one, and help us with a worthy cause.



* My Folksy Flannel collection is here, there and everywhere!

* Be sure and check back in next week for a giveaway and more about the fuzzi-luvi properties of these fabrics. I've been sewing a bit with them for the family and want to share.

In other news:

* Roman just turned six months old and I have given up on the floor quilt thing most days because he seems to find his way off of it before I am back to my chair. For a while the quilts that we put down got bigger and bigger, but now I am realizing that I am just going to have to sweep the floors more.

* Isabela has resolved to keeping her hair long instead of cutting it short because she says its good for thinking. When I asked her to clarify, she said you know when you're taking a math test and you have to run your fingers through your hair to figure out a hard problem. Of course.

* Salt dough is fun. The little girls and I made some a few days ago. I think the dough is smoother and easier to knead if you use a recipe with vegetable oil. (Though could this be why it isn't drying very well? Prolly.)

* I want to paint the dining room white.

* Well, creamy-whitish.

* I'm thinking I should not try to do that before Thanksgiving.

* Though I do think a roasted turkey would look so pretty surrounded by creamy-white walls.

* Roasted turkey fingerprints on creamy-white walls would be less pretty.

* Nevermind.

* I like asterisk-style-writing.

* Less pressure to make sense.

* HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

xoxoxox, Anna & family

And you thought the mountains were for hiking

The mountains are for shopping! Between studio sessions of my class last weekend, the girls and I were able to get in some very enjoyable (a little too enjoyable) shopping. While almost every shop in Gatlinburg boasts an amazing supply of leather, fudge, knives and swimwear, and other's are called Cooter's Funhouse, there manages to also be some serious little jewels among the shopping venues. I found myself in the Arrowcraft shop/gallery 3 times within 4 hours in one day. I could not get enough. The only thing that kept me under control was the fact that we only had two cars to get everything home.



First this gorgeous little vase, is my personal token to remember my time spent at Arrowmont. At the risk of sounding entirely too Zen, it is just so completely what it is. A pure example of gorgeous handcrafted, handglazed pottery of Southern Appalachia.



You can't grow up in East Tennessee as I did and not be aware of the craft history and inherent traditional art disciplines of this region of the country. It seems I was too cool for such simplicity and spent most of my younger years ignoring much of what was around me in search of apparently bigger, presumably more fashionable and deceivingly better artistic endeavors. But walking into this one shop was a little bit like walking into the surroundings of my youth with wiser eyes. Every piece of art and handcrafted item was waiting there in a new light... as warm, lovely and accepting as a great aunt that you've continually forgotten to send letters too.



So what did I do? I hauled half of it home, by golly gizzards!! Just kidding, sort of. But, for instance, these wooden toys for my Roman's first Christmas beckoned from the store shelf more compellingly when I was able to read about the man whose been making them himself for decades as opposed to similar made by who-knows occupying gift catalogs only when trend au currant says they should. Am I making any sense? I felt a connection. Like I wrote already- everything is just exactly what it is and made by folks who are just exactly who they are... a ceramicist, a woodworker, a handloomer, etc.



In a world where so many (including me) try to be and do so much all at the same time, I found the reminder of artistic simplicity so refreshing, beautiful and pure. I don't know where this blanket is going, and I have no need of blankets but it reminded me far too much of the handloomed wool blankets my Greek grandmother used to make (which I must share with you one day) that I couldn't pass it up.



And what is a trip to the mountains without outfitting the feet in a new pair of moccasins? A wasted trip, I tell you! All the girls, littlest to biggest, got a new pair and we're already wearing them in. (I had a pair exactly like Isabela's -second from the left- when I was little.) A perfect layer of warmth between me and an increasingly chilly wooden floor.

Have a warm weekend!, xo, AM

Mrs. Horner teaches a class

I had the privilege this past weekend of teaching a fine art studio class to art teachers from around Tennessee at their annual TAEA conference at Arrowmont School for Arts & Crafts in Gatlinburg, Tn. Thats right. I taught teachers. I know. Who would think they would need me for that. Well, my own former h.s. art teacher roped me in to be an instructor for the second year, and it was again, so, so enjoyable. I couldn't have had a more eager group of smart and fun people to work with, eager most likely bc they seldom have the chance to make their own art and naturally they seemed at ease to not be in charge of a bunch of kids for a change. Somehow, I could relate.

The basis for my two-day class was "reinventing textiles" through painting, drawing, and collage as shown in my piece above entitled "remedy". I got to share my fabric scraps (which they devoured like a bunch of students) and then got to watch lots of interesting things happen.



The studio was huge, well lit and made me a bit nostalgic for the good ole art school days. Arrowmont is an amazing, beautiful facility and if you ever get the chance to go and do one of the zillions of workshops they offer every year, you should jump on it. Below are just a few examples of my teachers' ...erhh... students' works in progress.







Joining me in the studio both days (along with Roman in tow) was Juliana, who is never afraid to do her own thing alongside people doing completely different things. I certainly didn't think she would "take" my class, but stealing my chalk!? Come on.



Okay, honestly, most of class time she was working on a graphite self-portrait based on some photographs we did together. She is hammering away at a batch of college applications and portfolios to submit, so she kind of used her time wisely.



Except when distracted by chalk.

The rest of the brood, as led by Jeff, had loads of fun hiking on dangerous trails where signs posted read "falling deaths have occurred", playing arcades, eating corn dogs, going on chair lifts, eating pancakes, dangling from precipices, eating taffy, swimming in mountain lodge indoor pools and all other sorts of things they never would have done had I been in charge.

I think they were so completely glad that I wasn't in charge and I am so completely glad that they all survived. Just barely survived, I am sure to emphasize to Mr. Horner continually.

More on our Gatlinburg shopping next! xo,Anna